The Southold Town Board unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday evening, Aug. 25 outlining how town police will respond to outside law enforcement agencies acting within the town’s boundaries, after a series of chaotic immigration raids on the East End over the course of the past year.
The resolution, the first of two discussed at the Town Board’s work session that morning, provides an overview for the public of town police’s new “outside agency policy” governing how Southold Police will interact with other agencies operating within the town, how police will communicate that information with town officials and how town officials and a new Public Safety Committee will review and respond after any incidents.
The Town Board hashed out the resolution over a series of four public meetings over the course of the past month, beginning with a special meeting July 29 where residents spoke passionately in support of creating these procedures through local law — not just through a resolution — as suggested by the Latino advocacy group OLA of Eastern Long Island.
“I’m happy with this outcome as a very large step in the right direction,” OLA Executive Director Minerva Perez told The Beacon just after the vote. “I appreciate the time and the difficult and meaningful conversations that have happened on this topic. I want to thank everyone across the entire Town Board, including the Town Attorney and the Police Chief and especially the members of the Public Safety Task Force for making sure that this was a real conversation.
The Town Board has refined the resolution over the course of three work sessions, concluding with a final reading and refining of the resolution, “which is intended to protect public safety, preserve trust between the Department and the community, and ensure timely and transparent communication with Town officials and residents,” at the board’s work session on the morning of Aug. 25.
The resolution adopted the evening of Aug. 25, the first of two resolutions discussed at work session that morning, provides a public overview of town police’s new “outside agency policy” governing how Southold Police will interact with other agencies operating within the town.
As outlined in the resolution, the police policy lays out four procedures “governing the response of the Department to operations conducted within the town by outside law enforcement agencies, to be interpreted and implemented consistent with Chapter 55 of the New York State Laws of 2026 and all other applicable state and federal law, and without restricting the Department’s authority to investigate or enforce violations of the Penal Law or other criminal statutes.”
The first of those policies lays out that, when the department is notified, “by a call to 911 or police headquarters, of an outside agency operation within the Town or the Village of Greenport, an officer will be dispatched to verify the operation; and that upon verification, officers will provide a peacekeeping and calming presence, with body-worn cameras activated in accordance with Department policy, will neither obstruct nor assist the operation absent a judicial warrant or act as otherwise required by law and will monitor and seek to de-escalate any confrontation involving bystanders, and will neither direct, control, nor position themselves so as to impede the operation.”
The second policy lays out how public officials will be notified of “an operation affecting public safety.”
In those instances, “the Chief of Police or his or her designee will notify the Town Supervisor or his or her designee, who will in turn notify the members of the Town Board, the Mayor of the Village of Greenport, and the administrators of affected schools, hospitals, and clinics, such notification is for situational awareness and preparedness only.”
The third policy states the chief of police or his or her designee will “issue a timely public statement containing non-sensitive details of the incident, and the fourth policy states that all members of the police department “will receive ongoing de-escalation training.”
On Communications
The policy then lays out how the town board will “conduct a review of the public safety response with recommendations for further action if circumstances warrant. Non-sensitive details of this review will be shared with the Public Safety Committee at timely intervals, in a manner that ensures transparency while protecting ongoing investigations and officer safety.”
While the resolution states that it will be adopted in conjunction and be read “together with, a standalone resolution of the Town Board that concludes the work of the Public Safety Task Force… and establishes in its place a Public Safety Committee,” the second resolution was not on the agenda and the board did not vote on it Tuesday night.
“We are diligently working on that,” said Councilwoman Anne Smith, who said the board had run out of time to finish that resolution at the morning work session. She added that she hopes to have a resolution ready for the board’s next meeting, which will be held Wednesday, Sept. 9 (a day later than normal due to the Labor Day holiday).
She added that the full wording of the police department’s procedure will also soon be posted on the town’s website. We will update this post with that link when it is available.
According to the first resolution, “the Public Safety Committee acting at the direction of the Town Board shall serve as the principal vehicle for community education and communication regarding the public safety procedures adopted by this resolution, including the development and dissemination of educational materials explaining the procedures, what residents can expect
from the Department during outside agency operations, and how to report incidents through 911 or police headquarters.”
“It has been really good working with all the groups and listening,” said Councilwoman Jill Doherty. “The number one thing is the safety of our community. Whether you’re a visitor or a resident, this policy really lets them know what we’re doing.”
“I appreciate our approach to the work, and hearing from Chief Grattan and Captain Latham (of the police department),” said Councilman Brian Mealy. “We have to do it the Southold way…. We want to try to make an atmosphere that’s safe for all community members. For the community working with us, and your feedback, thank you very much.”
“I want to thank all the members of the Public Safety Task Force,” said Town Supervisor Al Krupski. “They put a lot of time and work into it…. We did take the action we thought was best for the public safety of our community.”
Reactions?
Southold Resident Oz Hanley told the board after the vote that “I can’t tell you I’m completely pleased with it, but I do recognize the hard work that went into it.”
He then laid out a number of scenarios in which outside agencies could create problems in the community, including at polling places in this fall’s election.
“In our polling places, Board of Elections has Suffolk County PD go around with them,” said Ms. Doherty. “They can get Suffolk County PD there immediately. That is how that is taken care of…. There’s no loitering around a polling place.”
“We’re very concerned about our rights to vote in this country,” said Mr. Krupski.
“If you see any suspicious activity, you should call 911 and we will have an officer go out and check,” said Councilwoman Alexa Suess.
Two members of the task force — Magda Rodriguez and Carolyn Peabody — also thanked the board for their work on the resolution.
Both had been among five dissenters on the task force asking that the measures be adopted as a local law.
“Thank you for all the time you took and being open-minded to having hard conversations — I’m extremely appreciative,” said Ms. Rodriguez, an elementary school teacher, who had read an impassioned statement at the July 29 special meeting about her experience of Greenport in the wake of an immigration raid there in February, and of the fear she’d seen in her students.
“You rise with courage in telling your authentic story. We see you and hear you,” said Councilman Mealy. “What should be the beloved community’s response? Together I think we can deal with it. Thank you for reminding us.”
“What happens next will remain to be seen,” said Ms. Perez after the meeting. “I hope that we never have to employ these measures, but I fear we will. We look forward to maintaining a strong and viable connection with the Town of Southold so that we can continue to support the needs of its community members who may be affected directly or inadvertently by some of these actions. We will continue to be supportive, always, across the Town of Southold.”
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